Aussie coach Tim Nielsen felt that Shane Warne's offering of help to Hauritz would be useful, but would not make Hauritz a match-winning spinner that the Aussies are desperately looking for in order to topple the Englishmen in the forthcoming Ashes series. Nielsen insisted that it was up to Nathan himself and the coaching staff to transform the spinner into a champion bowler.

Nielsen was quoted as saying in the Sydney Morning Herald: "There's a lot of little things that go on behind the scenes that we don't necessarily make public, that don't need to be talked about."

"Haury has got people he talks to about his bowling. I know he's had some discussions with Warnie in the past. If Warnie is available and Haury would like to speak to him I can't see any reason they wouldn't have a chat."

"In the end, that's a great little resource to utilize, but it's more important that Haury identifies the things he needs to improve and we identify as a team the things we need to improve, and go about fixing them. We can't expect someone to come in and fix the ills of the game for us. It's about us saying 'yes, I need to get better at this', and working our backsides off at training and preparation to make sure we've nailed those skills."

"It'd be great to have people like Warne offering advice but in the end it comes back to us. We've got to take responsibility for our performances and we've got to make sure we do the best we can to be better every time."

Meanwhile, English batsman Kevin Pietersen has received a ringing endorsement from both sides of the fence as an Ashes weapon, despite his poor form and assertions by former Australian coach John Buchanan that he could be a divisive figure in the dressing room.

"Kevin Pietersen has never been a problem for the England cricket team," captain Andrew Strauss told BBC Sport. "Buchanan is off the mark to say that - I'm sure Kevin will come to the party."

Michael Clarke added: "He is a big player, he is a match winner, and I think he's one of those guys that if you're England, you have to have him in your team."